Yeah, I know: PMA sounds like one of those - yawn - way over-used phrases that ought to get consigned to the dustbin never to see the light of day again. I mean, come on: positive mental attitude? There used to be scores of self-help gurus who kept spouting that and all sorts of nonsense that sounded good but suffered from the cotton candy syndrome.
That's what I call the stuff that looks utterly tempting, but as soon as you get your teeth into it... it just disappears into a sickeningly sweet coating on your teeth. All style and no substance. Nah, not for me thanks.
But there's a lot to be said for a positive outlook and in general terms: attitude. How you look at things can make a huge difference.
I sometimes run around utterly grumpy and wonder why nothing will cheer me up. Everything that happens seems to be designed to get on my nerves and get me down even more!
On those days it takes me a while (yeah right,
if I stop to think) to realise that I'm impersonating negativity itself. You could paint my world in sunshine, pick me up in a bear hug and twirl me around and it would, probably, not make a difference... (Hm, maybe a nice old hug
would make things lots better).
There is one thing that I got myself into the habit of thinking positively about though. That positive attitude does seem to stick whenever I think about it too. A really good thing!
About 4-5 years ago I found out that I've got high cholesterol and need to reduce it by about 20%, just under. At the time I was a week away from the major endeavour of moving house and really didn't have the head space to deal with this.
I made a conscious decision: I would put it off by two weeks and properly look into it then. The GP surgery had given me a one page hand-out which wasn't hugely helpful (it quoted the outdated wisdom about eggs, if I remember correctly) but at least told me that I needed to avoid foods high in fats.
Saturated fat and trans fats in particular as I learnt later. I think I managed to stay away from deep-fried items for the two weeks. A good start.
There was a slight bit of misinformation I was initially given at the time: that the maximum cholesterol value was 6.5 (I was over by a bit) but I was then told the correct information: this value is 5 (in the US and continental Europe a different system is in use which, I believe, sets this maximum value at 200. Oranges and lemons).
I wasn't unduly worried to begin with (because of that 6.5 figure) - a couple of weeks later I started to research the subject: online and a couple of books. I found some useful stuff online, in particular a table of foods showing three categories: eat a lot of this (i.e. fresh vegetable etc), only eat those occasionally and the third was: avoid like the plague if you can (deep-fried stuff, innards, everything that's high in fats - all those beige looking, greasy items).
That was very useful.
Initially I found it annoying that I had to learn a whole new way of shopping: you can't just go up to your old favourites and chuck them in your shopping basket - you need to look at everything and check.
There was one thing I decided early on: I wanted to establish 'good habits' and not set myself up for failure by adopting the 'oh well let's eat the right stuff some of the time, but in reality stuff myself full of all the wrong stuff' - because, you know: it's a treat.
Except it isn't.
I had wondered, before that diagnosis, why I would feel particularly out of sorts, sluggish and frustratingly low in energy. I would be hungry, pace up and down to try and think of what I wanted to eat but on investigating the cupboard find that nothing appealed. There would be a lot of biscuits, crips, crackers, cakes, muffins and all sorts of other greasy foods. If you can't check if an item is high in fat: if it leaves a bit of a coating on your fingers (like a biscuit or shortbread does) then it's high in fat.
None of those appealed. The reason being: those high in fat foods were responsible for making me feel so sluggish - my cholesterol level just doesn't welcome more of the wrong foods, my body is craving the kind of stuff that's good for me.
Foods like: oats, avocado, fresh vegetables (let's not count potatoes though) and fresh fruit (I'm not keen on grapes and pineapple though) and there are others but I'll have to look them up again.
I think my cholesterol is a blessing in disguise. I did mention that I was going to write about Relentless Positive Mental Attitude, right? This is it.
When you think about it: it is a blessing in disguise.
What good are foods high in fat to you? They are very "good" if you were a goose that's being fattened up to make fois gras. That's the only reason: high-fat foods result in fatty livers. Yum.
I would like to be slimmer than I am. I specifically do not want to be a size zero nor anything approaching that. A UK size 14 is my goal - this is the average size in this country and it would do me very nicely, thank you very much! I am still one or two (more like two, sigh!) away from that, but I do see that as a gradual thing that I am moving towards.
And my cholesterol is helping me with that. I do not want to feel low in energy and sluggish, I want to be slimmer because it would make me feel good about myself and very happy at my achievement.
So really, there's no need to get upset that I inherited familial cholesterol (Yup, it's the parentals' fault!) - I can most definitely see it as a good thing. Avoid wrong foods, eat more of the stuff that I should, reduce my cholesterol, slim down, get very, very happy!
That's the ticket.
Just to add: I have had a couple of blood tests since the initial diagnosis. I was told both times that my cholesterol level had come down and whatever I was doing was working: so keep doing that! I may have to consider medication if my progress doesn't keep up, but so far so good.
Please note that I am not an expert in anything and please make sure you get proper medical advice if you suffer from high cholesterol or are overweight. I would hate to be the cause for problems. I just feel that a positive outlook can change the way you look at something, and that in turn may make it easier to follow a healthier lifestyle.
Please take everything I say with a huge pinch of salt and check it out for yourself.
I would love to hear from anyone about their experiences with high cholesterol. And I just reminded myself that I need to get another test for an up-to-date reading.
The above image is from a site called EFN Your Health and Fitness Guide, and an interesting article:
Good cholesterol can lower Alzheimer’s risk, worth a read!
